The Direct Selling Association (DSA) submitted comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), stating the FTC should solidify its rulemaking as pertaining to earnings claims before it moves forward with any updates to the Business Opportunity Rule. The DSA also stated that when the rule was last updated in 2011, the Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council (DSSRC), which is independently administered by the Better Business Bureau National Programs, did not yet exist.
“Overlapping rulemakings are untenable for the millions of direct selling micro-entrepreneurs in the United States,” said DSA President Joseph N. Mariano. “Over a decade ago, when the FTC considered broadly sweeping direct sellers into the Business Opportunity Rule, over 17,000 direct sellers wrote the commission and said the proposed rule would be bad for their small businesses. Those concerns remain the same over a decade later. The requirements under the current rule remain burdensome or superfluous with the rise of technology and the internet. In fact, direct sellers have instituted new industry-wide measures to provide even more confidence to customers and salespeople based on the suggestions of senior FTC officials.”
